Discuss 100amp fuse 16mm tails in the Electrical Forum area at ElectriciansForums.net

Welcome to ElectriciansForums.net - The American Electrical Advice Forum
Head straight to the main forums to chat by click here:   American Electrical Advice Forum

16mm tails are rated approx 90ish amps, short length, 3mtrs max (top end), if its an old cu 60amp dp switch doubt you would get 25mm in the terminals anyway.
 
The requirements changed starting about 1980 IIRC shortly following the standardisation on 100A main fuse. Before then 40A 60A and 80A fuses were all common (increasing in holders marked 100A) and many meters were only rated for 60A or 80A. 15th Edition followed as did upgrade of bonding and earthing conductors. Objective was rumoured to be to cut the number of blown main fuses following the widespread takeup of electric showers.
 
If it is not possible to change the tails without making a complete and utter mess of someone's house then i'll do it, but if the only way is to go surface in trunking through a habitable room then i'd rather leave the 16mm unless absolutely necessary.
The normal case is consumer unit in the porch high level with the meter box on the same wall externally with the tails in the cavity at daft angle and coming up into the roof void and back down into the CU. Only sensible way to get new tails up is trunking inside or taking the roof apart to get above and pull the new tails up the cavity.
 
The requirements changed starting about 1980 IIRC shortly following the standardisation on 100A main fuse. Before then 40A 60A and 80A fuses were all common (increasing in holders marked 100A) and many meters were only rated for 60A or 80A. 15th Edition followed as did upgrade of bonding and earthing conductors. Objective was rumoured to be to cut the number of blown main fuses following the widespread takeup of electric showers.

Some old dial meters are only rated at 40amp
 
never heard of tails or meters going in flames. looks like dno knows what they doing.

is more of dodgy consumer units or sockets giving problems.
 
Never seen 25mm (Copper or Aluminium) tails in any of our European cousins domestic installations!! In fact if you did have a 100A supply with 25mm tails you'll be paying a large premium on your standing supply and electrical unit cost, in most, if not all European countries. You wouldn't believe what most domestic homes actually run on, in terms of KW on the continent and beyond!!

My house in Cyprus is supplied via overhead supply and into my service cut-out and meter cupboard in 10mm aluminium cables
 
Connect a length of 16mm² tails to the output of a good welding set. Turn the current to 300A+ and see what happens. It’s boring!
 
I've also noticed that recently the DNO, when replacing meters around my area, is replacing the 100A fuses with 80A anyway. 'Upgrading' from 16 to 25 would truly be waste of copper in most cases.
 
What happens?

Not a lot. Takes about five minutes before the insulation starts to degrade. By that time the fuse should have given up the ghost.

Note, should have given up. Over the years I’ve had a couple of fuses fail blowing a hole through the end caps.
 

Reply to 100amp fuse 16mm tails in the Electrical Forum area at ElectriciansForums.net

OFFICIAL SPONSORS

Electrical Goods - Electrical Tools - Brand Names Electrician Courses Green Electrical Goods PCB Way Electrical Goods - Electrical Tools - Brand Names Pushfit Wire Connectors Electric Underfloor Heating Electrician Courses
These Official Forum Sponsors May Provide Discounts to Regular Forum Members - If you would like to sponsor us then CLICK HERE and post a thread with who you are, and we'll send you some stats etc

Electrical Forum

Welcome to the Electrical Forum at ElectriciansForums.net. The friendliest electrical forum online. General electrical questions and answers can be found in the electrical forum.
This website was designed, optimised and is hosted by Untold Media. Operating under the name Untold Media since 2001.
Back
Top
AdBlock Detected

We get it, advertisements are annoying!

Sure, ad-blocking software does a great job at blocking ads, but it also blocks useful features of our website. For the best site experience please disable your AdBlocker.

I've Disabled AdBlock